Overexpression of SlREV alters the development of the flower pedicel abscission zone and fruit formation in tomato

• Published in: Plant science (Limerick) Vol. 229; pp. 86 - 95
• Main Authors: Hu, Guojian, Fan, Jing, Xian, Zhiqiang, Huang, Wei, Lin, Dongbo, Li, Zhengguo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ireland Elsevier B.V 01.12.2014
• Subjects: Abscission zone; Amino Acid Sequence; Base Sequence; Flowers - genetics; Flowers - growth & development; Fruit - genetics; Fruit - growth & development; Fruit formation; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Gene Ontology; Genes, Plant; HD-ZIP III; Lycopersicon esculentum - genetics; Lycopersicon esculentum - growth & development; Meristem - genetics; MicroRNA; Molecular Sequence Data; Phenotype; Phylogeny; Plant Leaves - genetics; Plant Proteins - chemistry; Plant Proteins - genetics; Plant Proteins - metabolism; Plant Stems - genetics; Plants, Genetically Modified; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; Reproducibility of Results; REVOLUTA; Sequence Analysis, Protein; Tomato; HD-ZIP; REV; MicroRNA; FM; AZ; Abscission zone; HD-ZIP III; Tomato; SAM; Fruit formation; REVOLUTA
• ISSN: 0168-9452; 1873-2259
• DOI: 10.1016/j.plantsci.2014.08.010

•SlREV plays important roles in tomato development which is regulated by Sly-miR166 at post-transcriptional level.•Over-expression of SlREVRis affected both vegetative and reproductive growth of tomato.•SlREV might perturb the expression of BLIND and GOBLET to regulate tomato pedicel development.•Over-expression of SlREVRis might interfere the expression of MADS-box and Homeodomain family genes in tomato fruit formation and development. Versatile roles of REVOLUTA (REV), a Class III homeodomain-leucine zipper (HD-ZIP III) transcription factor, have been depicted mainly in Arabidopsis and Populus. In this study, we investigated the functions of its tomato homolog, namely SlREV. Overexpression of a microRNA166-resistant version of SlREV (35S::REVRis) not only resulted in vegetative abnormalities such as curly leaves and fasciated stems, but also caused dramatic reproductive alterations including continuous production of flowers at the pedicel abscission zone (AZ) and ectopic fruit formation on receptacles. Microscopic analysis showed that meristem-like structures continuously emerged from the exodermises of the pedicel AZs and that ectopic carpels formed between the first and second whorl of floral buds in 35S::REVRis plants. Transcriptional data suggest that SlREV may regulate genes related to meristem maintenance and cell differentiation in the development of the flower pedicel abscission zone, and modulate genes in homeodomain and MADS-box families and hormone pathways during fruit formation. Altogether, these results reveal novel roles of SlREV in tomato flower development and fruit formation.